A “Classic” Val d’Isere off piste morning!

Conditions have been pretty amazing over the last few days with absolutely fantastic fresh powder to ski just about every day – the only downside is that you haven’t always been able to see it! Still, if you can’t feel the base and it’s a nice even gradient, that’s not necessarily a problem. Yesterday we had the most amazing snow and glorious sunshine for the first couple of runs before the clouds came rolling in and it started snowing. After that we still had just about enough light to see by and we skiied our socks off! We started off with a quick Fontaine Froide and then straight down onto the Epaule du Charvet and then off to the right to finish in the gullies at the bottom of the Face du Charvet which were just FULL of snow – proper faceshot stuff! Then back up the Olympique and into the lower half of the Banane. Amazingly, there were already tracks in the top half, but with risk 4 yesterday, Didier didn’t fancy it. The bottom half was plenty for us! After that we headed over to Solaise for the Arcelle meadows but the light had really closed down by then so after that is was over towards the L to get below the trees so we could see again! Super L was just a dream all the way down to the bottom with deep powder snow and varying terrain from the plateaus at the top to the steeper stuff at the bottom – big grins all round! We then headed up the Laisinant and over to Pyramides via our favourite “bits and pieces” for a fabulous Combe du Signal (just enough light to see by) and then Bois du Cognan to finish – fantastic!

Today was even better, if that’s possible, in that we could see absolutely everything in mostly brilliant sunshine. It was much colder, too, which is great for the snow. I’ve been able to post photos and a video on Facebook so check them out. We had an amazing morning yoyo-ing between Bellevarde and Solaise, starting off with a Tour du Charvet in totally untracked snow – I think a lot of people headed over to Fornet today, so we had the place to ourselves and it was magical… After that we went for the Combe du Foin on Solaise followed by the Marmottons and then back up Bellevarde for a fantastic Couloir du Mont Blanc before finishing off with Danaides – it was great snow from start to finish, and a really strong group who made the most of it, so well done to all!